Arab ministers accuse Iran of undermining regional security

Tensions between revolutionary, mainly Shi’ite Iran and Saudi Arabia’s conservative Sunni monarchy have run high for years as they backed opposing forces in wars and political conflicts across the Middle East, usually along sectarian lines.

“Saudi Arabia has neither asked for ground troops nor are we sending them [to any country]”, Pakistani foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz told a parliamentary foreign affairs committee.

Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia then cut off diplomatic ties with Iran, leading many Gulf allies to either follow suit or downgrade their relations with the Islamic Republic.

“And so far it behaves like the latter”, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan said following an emergency Arab League meeting in Cairo. Riyadh responded by cutting diplomatic relations and stopping trade and flights to and from Iran.

Nimr’s execution sparked protests in Saudi Arabia and the wider region including one in Tehran that saw protesters attack the Saudi embassy.

“By contrast, the Saudi government or its surrogates have over the past three years directly targeted Iranian diplomatic facilities in Yemen, Lebanon and Pakistan”. “Let us not forget that the perpetrators of many acts of terror… as well as almost all members of extremist groups like Al Qaeda and the Nusra Front, have been either Saudi nationals or brainwashed by petrodollar-financed demagogues who have promoted anti-Islamic messages of hatred and sectarianism for decades”.

The kingdom’s move comes despite Iran’s recent letter to the United Nations saying Tehran has no desire to escalate tensions and that the Saudis must make a “crucial choice” – either promote sectarian hatred or promote good neighborliness and regional stability.

On Sunday the Arab League said Iran s reaction to the executions was “flagrant interference” in Saudi affairs.

In particular, the Saudi embassy in the capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad were attacked, after which Riyadh broke off diplomatic ties with Tehran on January 3.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said in a statement after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif in Tehran that Iran had assured him that the row would not upset talks set for later this month. Iran’s cabinet has banned Saudi-made imports.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said that being an important country of the Muslim world, Pakistan could play a pivotal role to ease tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.